YOH IN AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 9/17/01 4:27:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time, fodde at UNICA.IT
writes:

> I have a query which regards the origins of the exclamation YOH in AAVE,
>  present especially in rap music and spoken language

I can't tell you anything about the origins, but I'd like to make a note on
the spelling.

For about two years I shared an office with an African-American named Pete
Chandler (now unfortunately deceased).  He used the word "yo" so often that
he was called "Yo Pete" and somebody placed a sign by his desk reading "Yo
Pete".  Pete's usage of "yo" was considered a personal speech habit and
nobody associated it with AAVE.

The point is that Pete and everyone around him used the spelling "yo" rather
than "yoh".  The only use of "Yoh" I have ever seen is as a Chinese surname.

There is an old English phrase "yo ho ho", stereotyped as sailor's lingo.
This expression is old enough to appear in a folk song "The Eddystone Light".
 One wonders if Africans being brought from Africa to the New World as slaves
heard English-speaking sailors saying "yo ho ho."

       - Jim Landau